Blog by Irina Voronina

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Ever since I moved away from home 19 years ago, I have a different perspective on holidays. Most holidays don’t have the same meaning any more, because I refuse to go by what the TV commercials and the calendar tell me, I go with my heart. When it comes to Mother’s Day, I choose to treat my Mom as it was Mother’s Day all year round.

In the United States every holiday is just another reason to advertise and push the merchandize. “Buy this, buy that,
make you Mom happy this Mother’s Day…”, and so on.
I am not encouraging to ignore the holiday. I am just saying that Mother’s Day brunch reservations in the fanciest place in town may not be what you should focus on. How about taking your Mom to brunch twice a month? How about giving her flowers for no reason, not just on Mother’s Day?

The most valuable gift you can give your Mom is your time. Because you can’t buy time and mail it in an envelope. Time is priceless and you can’t get it back. Time spent with your Mother is a true gesture of appreciation of her, who gave you a gift of a life time.

Expensive gifts on Mother’s Day will not make up for the rest of the year. Let your Mom know how much you love her every day, spend time with her, spoil her. Because you don’t want to have any regrets, and wish you did all of these things when she was still around.

I miss my Mom, and she lives half way across the world. I don’t have the luxury of taking her out for lunch, or driving over for a week-end. But I am in touch with her all the time, and I cherish every moment we get to share together. As difficult as my Mom can be sometimes, I treat her with a great amount of patience and respect all year round, not just on Mother’s Day.

May be I just turn into a big sap as I get older, but it’s so very sad for me to see that some people I know don’t give their mothers the attention they deserve. We all use “I am so busy, I don’t have any free time” excuse. Well, I just don’t buy it. In my opinion if you find time for gym, nail appointments, concerts and such you sure can sacrifice a few hours a week out of your busy schedule to spend with your Mom in person or via Skype.

I understand, it may be very hard sometimes to witness our parents get older, talk about their health problems and give them the moral support they need. We tend to subconsciously avoid things that cause us mental pain, make us feel sad and helpless. We just don’t want to deal with the emotions that are hard to control, and build a wall of excuses as to why it’s not a good time for a phone call right now or a trip to see Mom this week-end.

Do you know what will hurt even more? The endless regrets about the time you did not spend with your parents when they were still around.

You have to learn how to be strong, to be able to be there for your Mom and Dad in the down times when they need you the most.

Mother’s Day is just around the corner. Think about giving your Mom a gift of your time for as long as she is around.